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Re: Found Photographs

I've purchased many old glass plates and negatives from all over the world.

I find it a fun diversion to go into my darkroom and print these from time to time. I feel a bond with the anonymous man or woman who made the negatives, and feel that bringing his or her work to light -- sometimes a century later -- is a worthwhile activity.

One of my favorite purchases is a big bag of snapshot negs from a family in South America. A lot of mediocre stuff, but many gems, too.

I send some prints to friends and file the others away.

I have a rubber stamp on the back of each to identify these as printed in a traditional wet darkroom directly from the photographer's original negative.

One friend hung a collection of them on his wall and it was strange for me to see them presented together. They looked pretty good!

With the success of Vivian Maier, maybe I should think about promoting that collection...

Re: Found Photographs

There's a web site run by a guy who asks people to send him undeveloped film they find in old family cameras or elsewhere. He processes the film, posts some of the images, and writes something about them, often speculation about what was going on, why they were never developed, etc. I thought it was a fascinating site. Anyone know the one I'm talking about, I can't seem to find it again?

Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.